FCJC Testimony Goes Into Congressional Record

Written testimony that the Federal Criminal Justice Clinic submitted to Congress last month has officially become part of the Congressional record. The FCJC submitted its testimony for the Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s September 18, 2013, hearing on “Reevaluating the Effectiveness of Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentences” (previously discussed here.)

At the September 18 hearing, Judiciary Committee chairman Senator Patrick Leahy concluded, “Mandatory minimums are costly, unfair, and do not make our country safer.” Similarly, Republican Senator Rand Paul observed in his testimony: “The injustice of mandatory minimum sentences is impossible to ignore when you hear the stories of the victims.” Speaking specifically about the effects of harsh sentences on people of color, Senator Paul remarked, “If I told you that one out of three African American males is forbidden by law from voting, you might think I was talking about Jim Crow 50 years ago. One out of three African-American males are forbidden from voting because of the War on Drugs.”

The entirety of the Submissions for the Record can be found here. Senator Leahy’s submission, which contains the FCJC written testimony, can be found here.

The Clinic's testimony runs from pages 34-50, and is one of the most comprehensive submissions for this crucial Congressional hearing.